London office take-up climbs as Crossrail arrival and new hotspots fuel demand October 4, 2018 Demand for office space in Central London jumped in the third quarter of 2018, with take-up in the capital’s commercial property sector showing no sign of a slowdown in the run-up to Britain leaving the EU. Office take-up in the three months to the end of September hit 3.7m square foot, marking a six per [...]
Slippery slope for ski property as prices take a tumble despite record snowfall October 4, 2018 As Europe’s leading ski centres crank up their lifts ahead of the early-season starting later this month, new figures suggest some resorts on the Swiss alpine slopes are undergoing a property slump. Despite record levels of snowfall and growing investment in infrastructure, house prices across the Alps dipped 0.5 per cent over the last year, [...]
ONS: Housing affordability woes deepen as millennial homeowner figures drop October 4, 2018 The number of young people who own a home has tumbled by 10 per cent in the last decade, underlining fears that the UK’s property market is becoming increasingly unaffordable to a new generation of buyers. Compressed wages and rising house prices have contributed to the drop in the proportion of people between the ages of [...]
Slovakian developer HB Reavis launches its first London flexible workspace arm October 3, 2018 A Slovakian real estate developer with a growing UK portfolio has become the latest property heavyweight to enter London’s flexible office workspace market, after introducing its co-working brand into the capital this morning. HB Reavis is launching its ‘HubHub’ workspace label within its £30m offices at 20 Farringdon today, where it will occupy roughly 34,000 [...]
Debate: Is the recent rule change for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) fair on tenants? October 3, 2018 Debate: Is the recent rule change for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) fair on tenants? YES – Dan Wilson Craw is the director at Generation Rent. Many people can only afford to rent in a shared house. But some landlords exploit their desperation for a place to sleep by cramming dozens of people into houses [...]
City Moves for 2 October 2018 – who’s switching jobs at KL Communications, Barclays and CBRE? October 2, 2018 Today’s City Moves cover comms, corporate broking and property. Take a look at these movers and shakers: KL Communications KL Communications, the financial PR and communication consultancy, has hired Charles Gorman to lead its listed company practice. Charles, who joins from Neustria Partners, specialises in advising listed investment and specialty financial companies on their strategic [...]
Royal Mail shares slump for second day in a row October 2, 2018 Royal Mail's shares have sunk to their lowest level since the company was taken private, putting the firm's membership in the FTSE 100 at risk. Shares are trading more than five per cent down today after falling off a cliff edge yesterday, losing 14 per cent and wiping more than £800m off its market value. So far, shares [...]
Ferguson boosts revenue and profit but UK outlook remains ‘tough’ for Wolseley plumbing brand October 2, 2018 Ferguson managed to report climbing revenue and profit today despite taking a hit in the UK, where it trades as plumbing firm Wolseley. The figures Revenue grew 7.6 per cent year on year to $20.7bn (£15.9bn) in the year to the end of July, while trading profit increased almost 15 per cent to $1.5bn. Its [...]
South Korean backers splash out £100m for Microsoft HQ October 1, 2018 Microsoft’s vast HQ campus in Reading has been snapped up by a London-based real estate investor and a Korean asset manager for £100m today. Valesco Group and Seoul-headquartered AIP Asset Management have bought the tech firm’s 245,000 square foot park in the run-up to the arrival of Crossrail’s Elizabeth line, which is set to strengthen [...]
May’s stamp duty tax on foreign buyers forces down FTSE developers’ share prices October 1, 2018 More than half a billion pounds was wiped off the value of some of the UK’s largest housebuilders today, as the City digested news of Theresa May’s planned property tax on foreign buyers. Shares in Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey all slid in the wake of the Prime Minister’s weekend announcement to slap [...]